Plastic cards are commonly printed using a suitable printing mechanism in a card processing system. One known plastic card printing mechanism is a retransfer printer. Retransfer printing is a known printing process where an image is printed by a printing mechanism onto an intermediate retransfer material by transferring ink from a print ribbon onto the intermediate retransfer material. After the image is printed, the intermediate retransfer material is transferred by lamination onto the surface of the plastic card that is to bear the printed image. Further information on retransfer printing can be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,894,710 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Another known plastic card printing mechanism is a direct-to-card printing mechanism where the printing is applied directly to a surface of the plastic card from a print ribbon.
As a result of transferring the ink from the print ribbon, a residual image of the printed image is left on the print ribbon. The residual image can be sensitive information such as a personal account number, the name of the intended cardholder, a portrait image of the intended cardholder, and the like. Therefore, someone may be able to obtain the sensitive information from the print ribbon for unauthorized purposes such as creating a fraudulent plastic card, making unauthorized purchases using the obtained information, or stealing the cardholder's identity.